Better than Coffee

Here's a little insight into my day.  I wake up at 4:45am.  By 6:00, I'm walking through the deserted halls of my school to my classroom.  By 7:00, students start filtering in to class, and by 7:25, we're up and rolling.  During class, I'm nonstop... walking around the room, lecturing, facilitating group work, keeping track of the eight hands that shot into the air needing help, and bouncing around the room like a pinball.  My job requires an endless supply of energy, and a question I get asked very often is how do I do it.

1) Things I have no control over.  I am a morning person.  I've always been an early riser, and my most energetic in the morning.  I am also a high-strung, energetic person by nature.  Again, nothing I can attribute to myself... God made me a ball of energy.

2) I love my job.  Yes, the bed is ALWAYS more tempting than getting up, but I love my job, and I love the hour of solitude before I start seeing students because I can focus, plan, and get some things accomplished.

3) My little trick.  This is supposed to be a helpful post, so if you are not a morning person or an energetic person, and your job doesn't get you pumped, I have another suggestion -- listen to music in the car that gets you pumped!  I have a mix cd in my car called "Car Dancing" because each of the songs (ranging from Black Eyed Peas to the Ting Tings) makes me bounce in my seat, shimmy, and do all the white-girl dancing cliches, all in the privacy of my own car.

This morning, I didn't even have to put on my cd.  When I turned the key in the ignition, I was treated to something I haven't heard in a long time... MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This."  Immediately, I was taken back to first grade, wearing stirrup pants and brightly-colored scrunchies.  I remembered doing the running man and the typewriter with my sisters.  I walked into work this morning with a giant smile on my face and ready to start the day, thanks to Mr. Hammer, his awesome pants, and his catchy tune.

So if you're dragging this morning and the coffee just isn't cutting in, relive your childhood with "U Can't Touch This" and other fun make-you-want-to-dance songs.                  Stop.  Hammertime.